I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tampons, and more particularly, to a tampon adapted to carry a medicament into the vaginal cavity where it is expelled from the tampon prior to activation.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Tampons utilized to carry medication or other materials into the vaginal cavity are well known, and are illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,997, issued Jan. 12, 1982; and U.S Pat. No. 4,318,405, and various other patents described therein. All tampons have in common the use of an absorbent material, generally referred to as hydrophilic. In addition to the aforementioned patents, hydrophilic materials are described in, inter alia, U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,911, issued Oct. 9, 1984 As used herein, the term "absorbent" refers to materials which are hydrophilic as that term used in U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,911.
As the foregoing patents demonstrate, it is well known to use various "medicaments," which, as used herein, includes materials such as deodorants and the like as well as material whose use is more generally considered to be for therapeutic purposes. Medicaments may be used seriatim in conjunction with tampons, that is, the medicament is inserted into the vaginal cavity, followed by the insertion of a tampon to prevent leakage. Such a seriatim procedure has numerous obvious disadvantages. Attempts to avoid these disadvantages generally fall into two categories, either the tampon is impregnated with the medicament, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,997, or the medicament is carried in encapsulated form by the tampon, as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,405. Devices of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,997 present problems related to the shelf life of the medicament, allergic reactions to the type of medicament used, and the inconvenience of pre-wetting the tampon, which is often required. Tampons of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,405 retain the encapsulated medicament in the tampon both before and after insertion of the tampon into the vaginal cavity, and so may suffer from many of the same disadvantages as the impregnated tampons. In addition, upon dissolving of the encapsulated medicament, much of the medicament will be absorbed by the tampon itself, rather than being applied directly to the body surfaces. Because of the relatively small volume of medicament carried in such a device, often the medicament fails to reach the affected area in sufficient strength. There is also a possibility that the vaginal cavity may be lacking in a sufficient amount of body fluid to dissolve the capsule and ensure medicament application.